Castletown

Dunnet Bay from Castletown Harbour

The village of Castletown lies on the south side of Dunnet Bay, five miles east of Thurso. Dunnet Bay faces north west and is backed by a two mile long beach. It is protected to the north by the bulk of Dunnet Head.

Windmill The Flagstone Trail Castletown Harbour

The village of Castletown was laid out as a planned settlement by James Traill of Rattar, Sheriff of Caithness, and was largely complete by 1825. Traill lived in Castlehill House, which burned down in 1967, but whose site lay between the village and the harbour.

St Clair Arms Hotel

Castletown Mill

Castletown was created to provide accommodation for the workers in the flagstone quarries Traill established in the area to commercially exploit a material long used for local buildings and field boundaries. A harbour was built, from flags, in 1820 specifically to allow the processing and shipping of flags. At its height flagstones from Castletown were being used throughout the UK and as far afield as South Africa and Argentina.

The 100 people employed in Castletown's flagstone industry in 1825 had increased to 500 by 1900, a year in which over 35,000 tons of flags were produced. But by the 1920s concrete paving stones had largely replaced the natural material and the industry died.

This industrial heritage is celebrated today by the Flagstone Trail whose start is just to the west of the harbour. Highlights of this include the stump of a windmill. In use this was used to drain water from the nearby quarry. The water was pumped into a dam which in turn provided water power for the flag cutting saws. The arrival of steam power in the 1860s rendered the windmill redundant.

To the east of the harbour is the impressive ruin of the very large Castletown Mill, built by Traill in 1818 to process corn from the surrounding area. Close by is the car park at the end of the beach footpath. This was opened in 2000 and gives access to the excellent beach and dune area to the north east.

In more recent times Castletown was home in WWII to a military airfield built a couple of miles to the east of the village. The village itself offers a range of local services including a hotel.